FM10:Official BOCA JUNIORS La Azul y Oro

Team Info

Nation Argentina

Year Founded 1905

Status Professional

Reputation Continental

Chairman Status Love The Club

Legends Juan Roman Riquelme

Icons Diego Maradona, Guillermo Barros Schelotto, Martin Palermo, Francisco Varallo, Mario Boye, Antonio Roman, Roberto Cherro, Angel Clemente Rojas, Ubaldo Rattin, Carlos Tevez, Carlos Bianchi, Sebastian Battaglia, Roberto Abbondanzieri, Hugo Ibarra, Oscar Cordoba, Diego Cagna, Blas Giunta.

Fierce Rivals River, Independiente, San Lorenzo, Racing Club

Other Rivals Chacarita

Finances Okay

Estimated value £23mil (loan debt - £14.25mil)

Media Prediction 1st

Squad Personality Determined

Captain Martin Palermo

Transfer Funds £1.2 mil

Wage Budget £110k (£8k available)

Boca A Brief Hostory

On 3 April 1905, five Italian immigrants gathered in the Plaza Solís, located in the heart of the La Boca neighborhood of Buenos Aires. Esteban Baglietto, Alfredo Scarpati, Santiago Sana, and brothers Juan and Teodoro Farenga founded Boca Juniors, the use of English language in team names was commonplace, as British railway workers had originally introduced association football into Argentina.

Boca Juniors' proud claim to be the club of half plus one of Argentina's football fans is unconnected to the aims of its founders. The club officially came into being on 3 April 1905 when a group of friends from La Boca - a dockside immigrant suburb backing onto the River Plate - decided to set up a football club that reflected the indomitable spirit of a neighbourhood where the game was played with makeshift balls made of rags and rubber. In the years that followed the identity of the new club was forged as the dreams of its founders became reality.

Boca Juniors played in local leagues and the amateur second division until being promoted to the first division in 1913, when the division was expanded from six teams to 15. Boca were never relegated; they won six amateur championships (1919, 1920, 1923, 1924, 1926, and 1930). With the introduction of professionalism in Argentina, Boca won the first title in 1931.

* First Match: April 21, 1905. vs. Mariano Moreno.

* First international match: December 8, 1907. vs. Universal (Montevideo, Uruguay)

* First professional match: May 31, 1931 vs. Chacarita Juniors.

The club's haul of domestic silverware is second only to eternal cross-town rivals River Plate, and the derby between the two is widely regarded as one of the ten biggest sporting spectacles in the world. La Azul y Oro's recent success in international club football has also made it one of the country's best-known clubs on the world stage.

The name Boca (”mouth” in Spanish) comes directly from the name of the area, which is, in turn, believed to have taken its name from the Boccadasse, a region of Genoa in Italy from which a lot of immigrants arrived at that time. In fact, the team’s nickname, Los Xeneizes, literally means “The ones from Genoa”. And the word “Juniors” was simply to add an English tone to the name, which they felt would add something prestigious to the team.

Boca Juniors has since become Argentinas most supported club, this support has been mirored by an ongoing success both domestically and on internationally. In fact Boca Juniors has won a record 18 international titles, equal to A.C. Milan. Their haul includes six Copa Libertadores, four Recopa Sudamericana, three world club titles (Intercontinental Cup), two Copa Sudamericana, one Copa Oro, one Supercopa Sudamericana, and one Supercopa Masters. Domestically, the club has won 23 national championships, second only to River Plate.

Boca have become synonymous with its famous strip, La Azul y Oro, or Blue and Gold of Boca are iconic all over the footballing world, however it wasnot always thus. In 1905 Boca actually wore Black and White Stripes until a rival team, also in Black and White stripes, challenged Boca to a match for the right to wear the colours. Boca duely lost and needed to look for new colours, it was decdided that the colours of the national flag worn by the next ship to sail into la Boca would provide the colours. And it turned out that it was a Swedish ship and the rest as they say is history.

El Superclassico

Height of Passion Boca V River

The two clubs both have origins in La Boca, the working class dockland area of Buenos Aires, with River being founded in 1901 and Boca in 1905. However, River moved to the affluent district of Núñez in the north of the city in 1925. Since then Boca Juniors has been known as the club of Argentina's working class or the people's club, with many Boca fans coming from the local Italian immigrant community. Boca fans are actually known as Xeneizes (Genoese). By contrast, River Plate became known by the nickname, Los Millonarios (The Millionaires), with a supposedly upper-class support base. Both clubs do though have supporters from all social classes.

The first ever recorded Superclásico was a friendly played on 2 August 1908, when Boca prevailed 2-1. The first official match was played on 24 August 1913, with River winning 2-1.

The Superclásico is particularly noted for the passion of the fans, with what the BBC describe as "a sea of colourful flowing banners, screams and roars, chanting, dancing and never-ending fireworks." Both sets of supporters sing passionate chants aimed at their rivals, often based on popular Argentine rock band tunes. Each stadium, Boca's La Bombonera and River's El Monumental are known to bounce with the simultaneous jumping of the fans. At times the matches have been known to end in fights between the violent factions on both sides or with the police.

Boca fans refer to River supporters as gallinas (chickens) claiming the lack of guts of River fans and players. Despite the fact that their club traces back its roots to La Boca, River fans refer to their Boca rivals as los chanchitos (little pigs) because they claim their stadium, located in the less affluent La Boca area, smells most of the time, as well as bosteros (manure collectors) a reference to the smell of a polluted river in La Boca. Another infamous slur, coined in the late 1990s over remarks of Boca's forward Diego Latorre, is to brand Boca Juniors as "The Cabaret", due to the alleged aspiration of some players to steal the limelight.

The rivalry between the two clubs can also affect players, particularly those who are transferred between the two clubs. Cataldo Spitale was the first to make the change, when he left Boca to sign for River in 1933. Oscar Ruggeri, who moved to River from Boca in 1985 said, "It's not easy I can tell you. One side looks on you as a traitor and the other doesn't really trust you. You need time to adapt and a lot of character to win people over." Some players have gone so far as to state that they would not play for the other club such as River's Uruguayan player Enzo Francescoli while Diego Maradona during his time playing for Argentinos Juniors, refused to even consider a move to El Monumental, stating that his dream was to play for Boca.

Nice add featuring superclasico

Stadium

Boca Juniors used several fields before settling on the current grounds on Brandsen. Their first ground was in la Dársena Sur but it was vacated in 1907 because it failed to meet the minimum requirements of the league, they then used three pitches in the Isla Demarchi area between 1908 and 1912. Between 1914 and 1915 the club moved away from La Boca for the only time in their history, moving to Wilde in the Avellaneda Partido of the Buenos Aires Province but a relatively poor season and low attendances in 1915 forced them to move back to La Boca.

On May 25, 1916 Boca opened their new stadium on the intersection of Calle Ministro Brin and Calle Senguel they stayed there until 1924 when they moved to their current location on Calle Brandsen and Calle Del Crucero.

Construction work on the concrete structure of their current stadium started in 1938 under the supervision of Engineer José L.Delpini. Boca played their home matches in the Ferrocarril Oeste field in Caballito until the structure was completed in 1940. A third level was added in 1953, giving the ground its nickname La Bombonera ('The Chocolate Box'). The side opposite the Casa Amarilla railway platforms remained mostly unbuilt until 1996, when it was upgraded with new balconies and VIP booths. Three sides of the Bombonera are made up of traditional sloping stadium stands, but the fourth side had to be built vertically, with several seating areas stacked one on top of the other, to stay within the stadium's property. La Bombonera is renowned for vibrating when fans start to jump in rhythm; in particular, the unique vertical side will sway slightly, leading to the phrase, "the Bombonera does not tremble. It beats."

La Bombonera is certainly a ground which is used to the advantage of any Boca team, it steep stands give the impression of the fans being literally on top of the players, seeing it bounce during a superclassico, or the festival atmosphere that is generally presenst in most home games is a one of the joys of football.

Old Faces, Current Legends and 'el Diez'

Over the years Boca have boasted some of the greatest players to ever kick a football. While Diego Maradona, who played for the club between 1981-82 and then again between 1995-97, remains legend at the club, there are several other players who have made a greater contribution to their success. Since the 1990s several world renowned players have donned the blue and gold shirt. These have included former Argentine internationals Gabriel Batistuta, Kily González, Claudio Caniggia, Walter Samuel, Guillermo Barros Schelotto, Marcelo Delgado, Clemente Rodríguez, Andrés Guglielminpietro, Federico Insúa, Juan Sebastián Verón, Daniel Bilos, and Martín Palermo (who still plays for the club). Players on Argentina's current roster include, club legend and current Boca Juniors playmaker Juan Román Riquelme, and formerly highly-rated striker Rodrigo Palacio. Others include Carlos Tévez, Nicolás Burdisso, Ever Banega, Roberto Abbondanzieri, Fernando Gago and Daniel Díaz.

Boca's most successful coach of all time was Carlos Bianchi. During his four years at the club he guided them to nine titles, three Apertura championships, three Copa Libertadores titles (2000, 2001 and 2003), and the Intercontinental Cup twice (2000 and 2003). Since then their most successful coach was current Argentine national team boss Alfio Basile. "El Coco" won four titles with the club: the Copa Sudamericana (2005), the Recopa Sudamericana (2005), and two league titles, before becoming the coach of Argentina for a second time in 2006, Basile has since returned to Boca following the stepping down of Bianchi's former no.2 Carlos Ischia in 2009. Bianchi also returned to the club at the board room level and many comment, perhaps rightly, that his is too big a shadow to live under. Bianchi held reign over arguably Boca's greatest side and his achievments mirror this, his is certainly a hard act to follow.

Boca's most famous and influential players both have something in common, the number 10. 'el Diez' holds an almost mythic status in Argentina football and this is even more true for Boca, as the two greatest 'el Diez' not only played but support Los Bosteros, and here they are;

Diego Armando Maradona and Juan Roman Riquelme were and are, the crux for Boca Juniors, their sublime skill and vision certainly sets them apart and they play a large part in the fandom of any Boca supporter.

The Football Factory

If anyone read Aprils edition of Four Four Two, they will have read up on Boca's fanatstic youth setup. In 1996 Boca President Maricio Macri declared the factory open, after convincing two of Argentinas best talent spotters it certainly was. In the next decade Boca would become to South America what Ajax had been to Europe, a school of excellence that produced a seemingly never ending wave of talented footballers. Walter Samuel, Nicolas Burdisso, Carlos Tevez, Fernando Gago, Ever Banega, Ezqueil Munoz, amongst others ahve all ben involved in big money moves to Europe and this trend looks like it will only get stronger. Of the Current crop Nicolas Gaitan, Gaston Sauro, Gabi Rodriguez, Ricordo Noir, Pablo Mouche, Juan Forlin, Fernando Roncagla, Christian Chavez, have all come through the ranks and look like doing the business for Boca not jut on the field but off it in transfer fees the lifeblood fo Argentine teams.

Right to left Carlos Tevez, Ever Banega, Fernando Gago, Walter Samuel.

Team Analysis

This is the formation I am going to use, the Box has become the fashion in South america as of late and with a lack of real quality on the wing this seems to suit what I want best.

Real Life Lessons

Tha past 18 months has seen a decline in Argentinas big 2, River are a shade of their former self, their academy has dried up, and they are being beaten by teams once thought beneath them, Boca have fared slightly better but not much. Thus far in this seasons Opening Stage, new coach Alfio Basile has sturggled with his Boca team, to the armchair viewer it seems that the team are a tad complacent, don't defend in numbers, and are lazy with ball retention. Basile's side rely to heavily on the majestic talent of Riquelme and the ability of Gaitan. Whilst it is tempting to just give the ball to an indivdual star its important to remeber a team has 11 players not 1 or 2. This is something to remember when creating your tactic, as tempting as it is to focus solely on Riquelme remember to keep a balance.

Goalkeeper

Roberto Abbondanzieri will be good enough for a season before retirement, and you have Javi Garcia and Josue Ayala as youth prospects along with Pablo Migliore on loan who should ba an ample replacement.

Options Not a vast priorty really if a cheap regen comes up then fair enough if not you should be set.

Fullbacks Ibarra is old and will need replacing with quality, Ansaldi is maybe worth a look doubt he will come though. on the left Morel Rodriguez is outstanding for a defensive left back, Krupoviesa is a good middle man,and Monzon is a good attacking option

Options Right Back will need a look, Ansaldi if possible or try and bring through a youngster like Villafane.

CenterBack A solid area which should do well, Cacers, Morel Rodriuez, Paletta, Cahais (when he returns), Roncaglia (when he returns), Bonilla all are good enough, in fact you may want to let some go like Bonilla for a bit of cash.

Options Strong area, if anything look to get some money from some of the fringe players.

Defensive Midfield In Battaglia and Medel you have to very good players, Medel is compared to Gattuso so perhaps an anchor man role would suit him, or he can be used as a Deep Lying Playmaker. Battaglie can be used as a DM, a CM or box2box. Depth wise a little investment may be needed Rosada and Bonilla are good but you may be able to get better.

Options Good starting 2, but a little lack in depth could need addressing, Benavidez is your prospect and may one day be up to scratch.

Attacking Midfield In Juan Roman Riquelme you have the best in the league and one of the best in the game, so he is a must starter. Insua is your other player here and is a fine addition, play both as Trequartisita's, sit back and enjoy. Dont forget Gracian is only on loan, Acosta will become a leading star, Mouche can be retrained, Chavez is an exciting prospect, and Diaz can do a job. The most dissappointing thing is Gaitan for some reason he has been crimianlly underrated so I boosted his pa from

.

Options Very good area with strong starting players and very god prospects.

Attack Okay the weakest Area of the team I think, what with the loss of Palcio we are thin up top. Palermo is old though still good for a target man, and Mouche is the other outstanding player but that is it really. Gabi Rodriguez will be fantastic, and Viatri is good, but Noir is dissappointing. Cristaldo if you can get him, Walter is available on loan, but with only £1.2mil to spend a loan or older player as a stop gap may be wise.

Options a must improve area, Cristaldo would be ideal and does come on loan, but you must be quick with the bid, Ivan Kaviedis is on a free and although he lacks physical stats his other stats are quite amazing.

Final Thoughts

Finances are a hard thing to master in Argentina so I would focus on young players especially if you can bring them through your ranks. Gabriel Rodrigeuz, Ezequil Munoz, Joel Acosta, all have a

so they should be kept hold of.

Boca's squad is big, so I would trim down some of the deadweight to free up wages and create funds, Calvo, Bonilla, etc sadly selling is a must in Argentina but that adds to the challenge as you will have to constantly rebuild your squad. You will notice that for some reason top european clubs come in for Ibarra, Palermo, Riquelme et al, I would keep Riquelme and Palermo, I kept Ibarra but you can get upwards of £3mil for him so its up to you.

So good luck and enjoy a really interesting Football Manager game, one with little money, the chance to win 2 leagues a season, aswell as 2 continental trophies all in a 38 game period.

Can you take one of the worlds most succesful clubs on to further glory? Do you want to bring up the next Maradona? can you handle the demanding pressure of Boca's fans?

Why not give it a try you may like it more than you think.

until then

Viva Los Xeneizes

Reserved For future update

Just .

Couldn't chuck an 'official' in the title for me could ya purefun?

Done, not bad opening post. However the short shorts worn by Diego ruin it.

So have had a very, very good pre season winning everygame and scoring lots of goals. Brought in 3 players 2strikers and a regen keeper.

The keeper is something else, love finding a real gem, 5* potential and looks to be a future star;

My only problem thus far is my defence. It seems to collectivley have the worst first touch ever, they make silly little mistakes as well like lobbing the ball to the keeper at pace and conceding corners. It also seems I have to think about a way in which to get into the opposing box more which I am finding difficult, but with palyers who can shoot at range like Riquelme, Insua, Mouche it isn't as bad as it could be.

All in all has started very well, and looking forward to keeping it going.

Why do they always fail to get Gaitan right?

I have no idea, the researcher has dropped a clanger IMO. Looked in editor to see how he was rated and to my horror I discovered that only 4 stats had been directly inputted the rest, including all his mental stats had been set to 0 for a random distribution, I mean he has played enough games to give a basic feel of his stats.

Just finished my Apertura finishing 1st with no defeats which was god, lot of injuries at the end Palermo, Riquelme, Battaglia all missed important matches but still managed to do well. Came up against Internacional in the Sudamericana Final, Beat tem 5-3 at their place, and lost 2-1 at min so won overall.

Really impressed with Mouche who has 22 goals in 18 ganes for me.

No one else playing as Boca?

One man army in this thread eh lawd? Congratulations on your season none the less. Monzon has been reduced I believe, yes?

lol Aye it seems that way I shal keep marching on however. Yeah he has still very good long shots and fre kicks, though he has been toned down. Bit of a hit and miss player in this years version,hs one fantastic game and 2 shockers, might see if I can get a few million for him. They have some excellent players out on loan, Gracian is still excellent, Roncaglia is amazing and so is Cahais.

Apertura Season

Well this is how the Apertura finished;

Well I am delighted that we won, and with the amount of goals we scored, though I am disappointed with the games we drew, in all of them I felt we were the better team and should have won.

Only brought in 3 players in Nayar, Amaral and Maragoni, who have failed to establish themselves as threats to the first team, but they are solid squad playes.

Most pleasing was my results against the big teams in the league which were exceptional, amd some high scoring games;

Copa Sudamerican

Well I qualified well beating San Lorenzo, but it was a struggle at times throughout the tournament. But I managed to make the final against Internacional, and really surprised myself with the ease in which I overcame them.

Areas to Improve

We seem to concede a few but I am not overly concerened as we score so many, my defence lacks back up with only Bonilla (who I dont rate) to really provide any cover. I am begrudged to by though, as I have Roncaglia and Cahais out on loan, who are both excellent so I may just go for a loan, Fuentes or the like.

I did find this regen in studiantes' U20 squad, who looks amazing, but they want 5mil!! for him which I just cant afford, may try to swap a couple of fringe players for him.

All in all, rather pleased looking forward to the Clausura.

Congrats with the season lawd.

Cheers, I'm findind 10.2 much better ME wise so I can really get into a game. I always seem to get Internacional in finals, lol. You doing another game with them this year?

No mate, I've gone old school I'm Guarani Futebol Clube. Very interesting challenge, plus I like them in real life when I get to see games.

Has Gaitan been improved at all on the new patch?

yeah, he gets a pa of

And his stats have been input properly.

yeah, he gets a pa of

160

And his stats have been input properly.

That's a step in the right direction

"How did I become a fan of Boca? It's an interesting story. A rainy Sunday, I was at my house with a friend of mine and I saw a game on TV. The score was 4-0, and was played at the Boca stadium, La Bombonera. At one point they scanned across the crowd at their fans: they danced, they sang, they twirled flags and banners. A contagious joy. I said to my friend, 'It's beautiful to do this when their team is winning.' And he turned to me and said: 'Roberto, are you watching? Boca are losing 0-4! …' From that moment Boca has become my team. That stadium gives me incredible feelings."

- Roberto Baggio (March 2008)

BOCA JUNIORS

I have a dream. I want Boca Juniors to be the dominant team in South America with many international players in the squad from Argentina. I also want the club to produce exciting youth players from the academy. There will be no major changes at the start of the season. The squad is one of the best in the Primera División but I need a right winger in my 451/433 formation.

BEST PLAYER

With Juan Román Riquelme in the team I will dominate many games. I will put him in the central midfield, in a playmaker role.

TRANSFER TARGET

I will decide in the last minute of the transfer window who I want to fill my right wing. But I just found a player in the Mexican league:

This is Javier Gandolfi, playing for Jaguares and can play at any position in the defence. I will try to get him in on loan.

Great post MrSundlofer, good quote from Baggio also. Gandolfi looks a sound player, and if you get Cahais and Roncaglia back your defence will be great. RB is always a problem for me though with Ibarra probably only goinga season or two at regular level, I am unconvinced by Calvos ability, but his versitility is great, Barosso isn't great either.

Let me know how you get on.

Hi guys. Boca is my favourite South-American team. So much passion for football is great to see.

I had one question. If both of you are further in the years can u post a screenshot of Gabriel Rodriguez. I've heard he was a real talent, and just wondering how he will look like in the future.

Keep the good work going.

Well I restarted my game with th new patch and am just starting my second Clausura, but here he is so far

Sent him out on loan this season and last to get some experience, he has a rondom PA but I think he will turn out very promising for me. In real life, they reckon he could be a new Tevez.

Hmmz not as good as i expected him to be. But he has the potential to get the right stats in the spots. When u get him to around 24 put a screenshot pls. :-) Thnx m8

so, its the year 2014 and im about to take over boca juniors on the 1st june. ive never really played the argentine leagues much, so does anybody have any tips on formations, tactics and type of players? im thinking of bringing some of my blackburn players to boca with me but arent sure what they'd be like

Look at Uncle Sams Box formation thread in T&T sction, I have posted a tactic on the second page which is specifically designed round Boca, 53 goals in 12 League games so far.

Great thread and thanks for the tactic Lawd, It`s works incredible with Boca

Thanks Argie86 glad it works well.

I just got my best ever result on any FM, Club world championship final. My Boca team versus a full strength Barcelona side.

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Even though it finished 1-1 and I won on pens Valdes was man of the match and really I deserved to win out right, so pleased amazing performance and we really outplayed Barca.

Thanks Argie86 glad it works well.

I just got my best ever result on any FM, Club world championship final. My Boca team versus a full strength Barcelona side.

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Even though it finished 1-1 and I won on pens Valdes was man of the match and really I deserved to win out right, so pleased amazing performance and we really outplayed Barca.

Well done great result